The Birth of a Hero
by SilverSpirit
Summary: "Remy LeBeau is dead...Gambit is all that's left." Story follows Remy LeBeau and his time at 3 mile island. Events leading up to his capture, his time in the facility, and what he was willing to do to escape.
1. Prologue

Hello Everyone! So after watching XO: Wolverine a few weeks ago, something popped into my head...this story. It basically follows the events leading up to Gambits Abduction, his time in prison, and how he escaped. This chapter is relatively short, but then again it is the Prologue and it is setting up future chapters for a whole lot of drama and action. I'm pretty excited about this so please **review.**

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><p><em>Prologue<em>

It was well after midnight in the city of New Orleans. The city itself was relatively calm, with the exception of a few drunk late night city dwellers wandering the abandoned streets. Most bars and taverns were getting ready to close down for the night just so they could start it all over again tomorrow.

However, in the bar the **Ace of Clubs, **one man stayed in the very corner staying out of sight and out of mind. He had been sitting there for over an hour and a half waiting for someone. The bartender finally turned and acknowledged him.

"You got 30 minutes. I'm closing shop by 1, so you better clear out before den."

The man nodded as he sipped his draft beer. He then checked his watch…12:26 AM. He sighed in frustration. His contact insisted on meeting here, in this very bar, at 11:00 PM. If one thing should be known, it is that William Stryker is not a patient man.

Finally, after another 10 minutes, the door to the bar swung open, and a man in his mid 30's strutted in like he owned the place. He glanced around the bar and immediately spotted Stryker (seeing as he was the only other person in the bar). He strolled over to Styker and sat down in the opposite side of the booth facing Stryker.

"You should be thankful I'm still here. When most people give a time and a place to meet…they are usually expected to be there on time and not 2 hours late!" Stryker hissed in a low voice.

"Don't worry 'bout it. Let's just say dat I got caught up in somethin' dat needed a little…taken care of." He said as he pulled a hunting knife out of his black trench coat and began to wipe it down with a raggedy cloth. When he was done the knife was shiny clean and the cloth had faint blood red stains on it.

Stryker just raised his eyebrows. "Save your excuses. I'm a very busy man Mr. Boudreaux , I don't have time for incompetent people such as yourself. So let's just make this brief. What is it you wanted to tell me?"

"Rumor is you're in da business of detaining mutants." Julian whispered.

"I don't know where you heard that. As far as I know the government isn't running any mutant based research projects." Stryker lied.

"Oh come on now Colonel. Is it all right if I call you Colonel? Anyways, I'm sure you did a background check on me before you agreed to arrange a little get together. So you must know that I am Julian Boudreaux, heir to the Assassins Guild. So as you can imagine… a title like dat means I gots friends in high places." Julian went on to explain.

"I'm listening." Stryker said, permitting Julian to continue.

"You want a mutant? I got one for ya. His name is Remy LeBeau. Not sure what his real name is, he was taken in off the streets when he was 8, raised the son of Jean Luc LeBeau. Who believe it or not is the patriarch of the Thieves Guild. Now a couple years back a few guild members got this so called 'great idea'. They said 'let's end this guild rivalry once and for all and make a United Guild'. It was initiated through a wedding. Tying da knot and sealing our fates together seemed to be a little symbolic to the guild elders. Remy was chosen as the groom and my sister was chosen to be his bride. He is married to my sister and it makes me sick. She's married to a goddamn monster. I want him gone, god forbid he gets her pregnant. Then we'd have half-mutant scum on our hands."

"I understand how that can be difficult for you, and for your family. Believe me I do." Stryker said thinking of his own mutant son who drove his wife to suicide. "But why should I waste time with this one mutant? I'm only interested in the more powerful ones."

"That's why I thought you'd be interested in him." Julian smirked as he pulled out a manila folder from his trench coat and slid it across the table to Stryker. "Everything you need to know about him is in der." He said referring to the folder.

Stryker opened the folder and saw several candid shots of a young man in his early 20's. Stryker could immediately tell this individual was a mutant. It was the eyes, they were very…demonic. Blood red irises dead in the middle of sclera black as night. He then browsed through Remy's Bio. He had the ability to harness potential energy and dispatch it out as kinetic energy. In doing so Remy can cause small explosions or very large ones depending on the size of the object he is in contact with. Basically he is a walking time bomb.

"How very interesting." Stryker said in amazement.

"I thought you might t'ink so. I figure you could somehow dissect his power and turn it into some kind of weapon."

"I'm sure Mr. LeBeau will be of some interest to my team of specialtists. We'll make all the necessary preparations and we'll intercept him within the week and he'll be out of your hands for good." Stryker said putting on his jacket and preparing to leave.

"One more t'ing. He can never know dat I was the one who sold him out. He might be a mutant, but he's good at what he does, and if he finds out I sold him out…he won't stop hunting me til I'm dead."

Stryker chuckled. "No need to worry Mr. Boudreaux. One, all our records of prisoners are kept strictly confidential, and two, once you go into Three Mile Island…there's no coming out.

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><p><span>How was it? Good? Bad? let me know, I'm in the dark if no one reviews my stories. <span>

Another thing...this may or may not be a prequel to I Wish You Were Here (I haven't updated in over a year and I have serious writers block for it). Let me know what you think. I'll be back in a few days with the next chapter, I promise :D.


	2. The Abduction

**Here it is chapter 2: I don't own Xmen...please review.**

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><p><em>The Abduction<em>

Remy LeBeau strolled through the plaza center in the middle of New Orleans going into the various shops and stalls. His brother, Henri, was with him…not by choice, but by force.

"Remy I swear to God, if you don't make up your mind soon, I will kick your ass half way to Tuesday." Henri warned.

"What? Belle and Remy's anniversary is next week. Remy wanna get her somethin' special, somethin' rememberal." Remy told him as he gazed at several diamond necklaces through a glass case.

"Okay 1) As far as I'm concerned Bella Donna is not your wife. All right she's just some girl Dad forced you to hook up with. It kind of disturbs me to tell you the truth. And 2) Stop talking in 3rd person it gives me a goddamn headache." Henri complained.

"Glad to know you think so much of her. And yes maybe our marriage was arranged, but we still love each other. And isn't dat what counts?"

Henri sighed. "What are you doing here anyways? If you want to get her some big ol' fancy rock…just do what we do best." He said in a whisper so others wouldn't hear.

"Henri. I am not going to steal her anniversary gift for her. Dat's just low."

"What? Mercy didn't mind when I got her that pearl necklace last year. In fact it was more valuable to her knowing dat I went through so much trouble to snatch it from da Queen of England." Henri pointed out.

"Still, I t'ink dat Belle will be more happy with da fact dat I actually paid for her gift wit' my own hard earned cash."

"Kind of redundant when your 'hard earned cash', was stolen in da first place." Henri pointed out.

Remy shrugged, as he went into the next store. He browsed around, and then finally after hours of searching he found the perfect gift. It was a silver necklace with a red ruby pendant attached to it. Remy thought it was the perfect size for Belle. It would bring out her eyes and look good against her golden skin tone. Plus she liked the color red. He turned to the store clerk.

"Excuse me madam', I'll take dis one." He told her pointing to the ruby pendant.

"Very excellent choice sir," she said as she unlocked the glass case and retrieved the necklace. "Who's the lucky lady?"

"My wife," Remy told her as he pulled out his wallet. "Our first anniversary is comin' up, an' I want it to be a special night for 'er."

"Trust me, a girl's best friend are diamonds and jewelry… she'll love this." The girl said as she put it in a black velvet box. "That'll be $375."

Remy retrieved several hundred dollar bills from his wallet and handed them to the girl. "Merci." She smiled as she placed the box in front of him; he grabbed the velvet box from the table and left the store with Henri en route.

On the way out Henri noticed two guys hanging in the back of the store staring intensively at Remy. Henri squinted suspiciously at the two men. One was an African American with a goatee and a cowboy hat. The other was significantly taller, he had a buzzed head and he was in all dark clothes with a black trench coat. He then turned to look at Henri. He just smiled wickedly and Henri swore he saw a pair of fangs protruding from his mouth. Henri didn't know why but this man gave him the chills, he looked like the devil incarnate…evil and sinister.

"Henri!" Remy shouted snapping him out of his stupor. "I've called your name like 3 times."

Henri snapped his head towards Remy. "Sorry, just zoned out. I thought I saw…" He looked back over his shoulder but both of the men were gone, like they had vanished into thin air. "…something."

"Whateva. I'm gonna go out for drinks, care to join me?"

"Sorry little brother," Henri apologized shaking off what had just happened. "A couple of the guild members want me to look over some blueprints for next month's heist. Why they can't do it themselves, I don't know. Amateurs if you ask me."

"You need any help?" Remy asked. "Breaking into New Orleans National Bank is a big job."

"A big job for a big boy. I got it Rems, look go enjoy the day with your wife. I might not like the girl, but you need to spend time with your family…'cause you never know when that'll all just disappear." Henri warned.

"Henri, I'm 20 years old, what could possibly happen?" Remy half chuckled as he walked over to his motorcycle.

Henri watched as Remy zipped away on his black and red Harley. Henri began to walk away when he noticed those same two men from the jewelry store get onto their own motorcycles, and take off in the direction Remy went. Henri was feeling anxious, he had a feeling in his gut that something very bad was about to happen…unfortunately he was right.

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><p>"I still don't understand. What does Stryker want with this guy?" John Wraith asked Victor.<p>

"Gee Pumpkin, I don't know…why don't we just go up together and ask him?" Victor answered sarcastically. "You know the rules Wraith…we don't ask questions, we just deliver the package. That's what got Logan kicked out. So unless you want to end up like him; A Canuck who chops down trees for a living, I suggest you stay in line."

"Are you threatening me?" Wraith asked.

"More like advising…you wouldn't want to end up on the other side of Stryker's reins like Wade did."

"Wade got terminal cancer, and Stryker just put him under a microscope to observe him just like all the others. I'm starting to think that he's using us, and the minute we become 'useless', he goes after us."

Victor just stared at Wraith.

"…and quite frankly, I don't think two and a half million is worth that." Wraith finished off.

"What are you implying?"

"I'm done being Stryker's puppet. I think Logan had the right idea after all. I didn't sign up for this. I didn't sign up to hunt down our own kind. You still want to bring in this guy; you're going to have to call in Zero. 'Cause I'm done." And with that John Wraith teleported out of there.

Victor took in a deep breath and then released it, "well that's just great."

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><p>Julian glanced down at his watch. It was 9:00 PM. Stryker's crew would come in at 10 and then it would be all over. His sister would finally be free of the marriage, the guilds would no longer have a reason to be united, and things would finally be back to normal.<p>

'Damn muties ruin everything.' Julian thought to himself. At 10, Stryker's specialists would invade LeBeau's house, take him out of there and make it look like a burglary gone bad. The body would be missing (along with a lot of heirlooms and money), the thieves would initially blame it on the assassins, rightfully so, and the war would be reignited, the way it's been for centuries.

He had to make sure Bella Donna wasn't there when the abduction took place. He didn't want his sweet sister to become collateral damage. So at 10 both of them would be at the bars catching up, giving Julian an alibi for when the Thieves Guild start their Inquisition looking for the Prince of Thieves. It wasn't exactly a secret that Julian Bouedreax distained Remy LeBeau…most people would immediately turn their heads towards him. But he wouldn't get caught; Not by Jean-Luc, not by Henri, most definitely not by Remy…not by anyone. He had the upper hand this time.

Remy came home from the bars relatively early tonight. He had a big day ahead of him tomorrow…places to be…stuff to steal. When Remy got home Bella Donna was already out. She had said something about spending the night out with Julian.

What a douche bag the guy was. To say that Julian and Remy were enemies was a massive understatement. He didn't like that Belle was out with him, even if he was her brother. He didn't trust the guy. Julian always hated Remy; not just because he was a thief…but because he was also a mutant.

Remy got to his house at about 10:15 PM. He drove his motorcycle into the driveway, killed the ignition, took off his helmet, and put down the kickstand. He pulled out his house key and unlocked the front door. He took off his trench coat and threw it onto the coat rack. He grabbed a glass and a bottle of whiskey and settled on a leather couch to watch some TV before getting some shut eye.

He poured himself a shot of whiskey, set down the bottle, and took a long draw from the glass.

After a few minutes of watching TV, the images on the screen started to blur together. Remy thought it was just because he was sleep deprived, but then he felt sweat begin to settle on his forehead. He started to breathe heavily as if there was no oxygen left in the air, and every breath seemed to fill his lungs with lead.

Remy attempted to get to his feet, but they immediately gave out and he collapsed. He lay sprawled out on the floor as sweat pooled down his face. He felt his heart begin to race and then Remy knew…someone had poisoned him.

He knew what he had to do, get to a phone. He grabbed the arm of a chair and hoisted himself up with great difficulty. His heart was pounding so hard he thought it would break right through his chest. He continued to move across the room grabbing anything to keep him from collapsing again. He finally reached the phone. As he grabbed it he fell to the floor with the phone clutched in his palm. His hands began to shake, and it took all of what little concentration he had to dial his brother's number.

"Oui?" A voice asked after several rings.

"H-h-henri?" Remy asked weakly.

"Remy? What's wrong? You don't sound too good." Henri answered him.

"Poison." Remy spat out.

"What? Remy what is going –"But Remy never got to hear what he said, because the line went dead.

A pair of footsteps entered the room, and the last thing Remy saw before passing out was a man with yellow eyes, and a pair of fangs. The man smiled wickedly down at him as he put a hood over Remy's face.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm not entirely satisfied with the way this chapter ended. I originally had it so Remy, Sabretooth, Agent Zero, and Blob got into a massive fight. But the more and more I thought about it...Stryker is a sneak. He's the kind of guy who would go behind your back, into your own home, and poison you.<strong>

**But no worries, there will be tons of fighting in later chapters. Especially the breakout chapter.**

**If you read this please review, I take anonymous reviews. :)**


	3. Orientation

**Once again I do not own X-Men in any way shape or form...sorry for the little leave of absense. Please be a darling and Review.**

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><p><em>Orientation:<em>

3 Mile Island

One of the guards removed the black hood off of Remy's head. Remy squinted as he found himself staring into a bright illuminating light above his head. The men were standing in front of him. One was an oriental man who had at least 8 guns on him. The other was tall; He donned a black trench coat, and his eyes were yellow and he had teeth shaped like a vampires. This was the man hovering above him when he had passed out. Remy noticed that the man had on a pair of dog tags. So they were military. For some reason the military wanted him. But why? He glanced around, still trying to adjust to the bright lights. There were metal walls surrounding him, in a small square room. There was a window on the left side that appeared to be a mirror, but he knew it was a tinted window. Someone was on the other side, watching him.

He tried to move his hands but he realized that each hand was handcuffed to the corresponding arm of the chair. He attempted to charge the cuffs, but to no avail. The metal just hissed, then went out, like a short circuit. He tried again but the result was the same. Remy groaned in frustration just as the metal door opened. He glanced to the side and saw a middle aged man in a military uniform enter the room with a file in hand. "Thank you, Creed, Zero." He said nodding to the two men. 'Creed' and 'Zero', just nodded back and left the interrogation room. The man in the military uniform sat in the seat opposite Remy and began to read exerts from the file.

"'Remy Etienne LeBeau… human mutant…biological parents unknown…adopted at age 8… manipulation of potential and kinetic energy.'" He read to Remy.

Remy just raised an eyebrow. "Who are you, and where am I?"

"I am Colonel William Stryker, and you will address me as so. You are in one of my mutant research facilities. You were brought here so we may run some tests on your unique powers and abilities."

"Mutant research facilities?" Remy asked in disbelief. "You can't just kidnap and drag me here."

"On the contrary, kidnapping suggests one human being abducting another human being against their will. Now the way I see it, mutants such as yourself aren't human so there are no laws to protect you. You're a mistake, an error that needs correcting…and that's what you're here for."

"Fuck you!" Remy spat in Stryker's face. Due to the fact that his mutation was evident at birth, he was no stranger to derogatory terms. 'Demon eyes', 'Le Diable Blanc', 'mutant trash'. All were names he'd been called before. The reason he'd never known his biological parents was because either they were too scared of him, or the doctors that delivered him got rid of him after taking a long hard look into his eyes. Now he had some high class, military, prick, telling him he wasn't even human.

"Quite the temper you got there." Stryker pointed out as Remy's eyes flared up. "I wouldn't think about using that kinetic charge you've got stored up. It won't do you any good. Those handcuffs are made out of a metal called adamantium. Adamantium's molecular make up enables it to withstand any force. It's impenetrable, and unbreakable…therefore unchargable. We had to take several precautions to make sure you wouldn't try to escape. After all you are a trained professional thief. Breaking in and out of things is your strong suit."

"You don't know anything about me." Remy growled through gritted teeth.

"Maybe not. But isn't that what we're all here for? To learn?"

"Well then here's your first lesson…" Remy whispered leaning forward.

Stryker proceeded to lean forward as well.

"…Don't fuck with me!" Remy hissed as he swung his head forward, hitting Stryker dead on the forehead.

Stryker fell out of his chair in pain, as he nursed his head which was now bleeding.

Remy immediately felt a blow to the back of his head.

"Get him out of here. Take him to his cell!" Stryker ordered to Creed.

"You think this is over!" Remy bellowed to Stryker as he was dragged out of the room.

"If you do, you gots another t'ing comin'!" He roared as he was 'escorted' down the hall.

Victor Creed was too powerful for Remy to overtake, but he still gave him a hard time.

"Say goodnight pal." Victor smiled as he jerked Remy's head into a wall. Remy felt dazed and immediately slipped into unconsciousness.

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><p><span>New Orleans<span>

Henri LeBeau was sitting in one of the guild chambers. He had called together an emergency meeting after stumbling across Remy's house…or what was left of it. When Henri walked through the door of Remy's house after the call he got, the house looked like a hurricane had blown through it. Shattered glass littered the floor from several broken windows. Picture frames lay unattended on the floor. Tables and chairs were flipped over. It looked as if there had been a struggle. Knowing Remy, he could have done half the stuff in the house just by detonating a charged card.

But still something didn't add up. The house looked as if it had been robbed, but where was Remy then? If an amateur was robbing a house, and they stumbled upon the owner, their instinct would be to either run or kill them. Remy's body was nowhere to be found. And when Remy had called him last night he implied that he had been poisoned. Why would someone go through the trouble of poisoning a man, just so he could rob a house? Unless it was never about the house.

Henri still hadn't told anyone what this was about, with the exception of his father, Jean-Luc. Henri thought about those two men he saw in the jewelry shop with Remy yesterday afternoon. It seemed as if they were following Remy. He didn't tell Jean-Luc about that yet, he was still furious with himself for not doing anything about it.

Henri started to think of reasons why someone would want to kidnap Remy. 1, he was considered the Prince of Thieves. Jean-Luc would be willing to pay quite a lot of cash to make sure he got Remy back in one piece. 2, he had made quite a lot of enemies over the years. Maybe this was payback. And finally 3, he was a mutant. A very powerful and potentially dangerous mutant. What if someone wanted him for his powers?

"Why are we here, LeBeau?" One of his fellow thieves asked, snapping Henri out of his thoughts. "We've got a major heist in less than 12 hours.

"Heists off." Henri informed the present thieves.

There was a series of groans and then a multitude of questions.

"I'll explain it all when the assassins get here," Henri informed them. "They've got some explaining of their own to do." He said in voice low enough for just him to hear.

Suddenly the chamber doors opened and dozens of the assassins poured into the room, leading them was Julian.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Thieve." Julian spat at Henri. "Calling a meeting at 0700 hours."

"Shut your mouth Boudreaux!" Henri retaliated.

"Calm yourself son." Jean-Luc ordered his son. "Seeing as we're all here, we should start."

Henri nodded. "At 10:24 last night I received a call from my brother Remy. He was breathing hard into the phone, he told me someone had poisoned him, and then the line went dead. When I reached his house, I found it ransacked, demolished, destroyed. But the worst part of it…Remy's gone."

There was a thunderous uproar at this. Thieves were demanding further information. Assassins smirked and smiled at the fact that Remy was gone. Bella Donna looked unphased, and Henri caught sight of this.

"Bella Donna Boudreaux!" He called out to her, "would you join me down here?"

Bella Donna rolled her eyes than left her seat to join Henri.

"Where were you last night?" Henri asked.

"I was out with my brother." Belle told him.

"When you got home did you notice that your house was a mess?"

"I never came home; I decided to stay with Julian."

"Funny that the night Remy gets kidnapped, you were nowhere near the place. Did you think to call him, or check in?"

"I don't need his permission to stay out at night!" Belle hissed. "But for your information, I did call him."

"How did you call him, if the landline was cut?"

"The call didn't go through; I didn't think anything of it."

"Convenient." Henri was not convinced.

"Are you trying to insinuate that my sister had something to do with this?" Julian demanded.

"Don't be stupid, Jules." Henri informed him. "Don't get me wrong, you're good at what you do but you couldn't have pulled this off."

"He loved you! He was willing to die for you. He thought what the two of you had was real, he loved you and you shoved it in his face." Henri said in a voice low enough for just her to hear. "And now he's gone, and you're not even phased by it."

Belle just looked down and didn't say anything.

"Your husband is missing…maybe even dead. At least act like you care."

Julian couldn't hide the smile on his face as the thieves and assassins once again turned on themselves.

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><p><span>3 Mile Island<span>

Remy was once again chained to a chair, but his arms were free. A giant metal strap was around his waist keeping him bolted to the chair. The room he was in was white, and looked like the room in an asylum.

"Hold out your arm." A man in scrubs ordered holding what looked like a staple gun.

"No thank you." Remy told him as he crossed his arms.

The man in the scrubs sighed and nodded at someone behind Remy. Suddenly someone grabbed Remy's wrist and forcefully straightened it out.

The man in the scrubs lowered the staple gun onto the inside of his arm. There was a click, and Remy felt something cut into his arm. He hissed in pain, but bit his lip to prevent sound from coming out. When the staple gun was removed there was a massive gash on Remy's arm that began to bleed.

"What the hell was that?" Remy demanded.

"Tracking device." The scrubbed man informed him as he began to type on the computer. "We always want to know what the subjects are doing."

Suddenly on the screen in front of Remy an infra-red image popped up. It was a map of the facility and in the room labeled 'medical bay' there was a flashing red dot.

"All right, strip down."

"Excusez moi?"

"I'm going to take off your restraints. And don't try anything stupid, we've got about 20 men outside this room with guns ready to put a bullet in your head if you try anything."

The harness came off and Remy stood up cautiously. He still had a migraine from when Victor Creed slammed his head into a wall.

He proceeded to take off his trench coat, dark blue button up shirt, and his black wifebeater. On his left shoulder there was a tattoo of the thieves guild crest. All thieves got it after they passed they're trials. It was a mark of brotherhood.

Remy was down to his boxers when the doctor gave Remy a red jumpsuit and a white shirt. He slid the red sweats on, pulled the white undershirt over his head, and buttoned up the red jacket.

Remy yanked off his silver watch and put it on the table with his clothes. He stared at his left hand for several moments before sliding off his wedding ring and placing it gently with the rest of his stuff.

"Hands behind your back."

Remy did so and once again felt the adamantium cuffs shackle onto his wrists.

Two guards and Creed escorted Remy to his cell. When the guards unlocked the door, Creed power kicked Remy in the back making him tumble forward into the cold concrete cell. Without the use of his hands he couldn't stop himself from ramming into the toilet basin and bashing his head.

"Get some rest mutie…you're going to need it." One of the guards laughed as he closed the cell door. Remy waited til he could no longer hear the three pairs of footsteps.

When he was sure that they were gone he flipped over onto his back and raised his hips up. He extended his shoulders as far as he could as he slipped his shackled wrists behind his legs and then over his feet. He sighed in relief as he gained motion in his arms. He could already see bruises around his wrists from the cuffs, and on top of that he felt warm blood drip down his face.

Remy sat back against the cold concrete and listened to the flickering of the light in his cell. He was beginning to anticipate the inevitable torture that was waiting for him tomorrow.

_God Henri, please help me._


End file.
